Oil burner



June 16, 1942.

F'IGA.

G. H. TESSMER OIL BURNER Filed Oct. 20, 1939 ATTORNEYS Patented June 16, 1942 is St ATENT orrlcs OIL BURNER Application October 20, 1939, Serial No. 300,301

Claims.

This invention pertains to oil burners suitable for a wide variety of purposes.

A particular object of the invention is to provide a burner especially adapted for use in the art of removing old wall paper from the cellings and interior walls of buildings. In service of that kind, steam, usually of low pressure, is used, and it is customary to generate the steam on the job in readily portable boilers or Vaporizers heated by various devices, such as gasoline or kerosene burners, or by electric resistance units.

Most of the devices use gasoline for fuel, and all of the gasoline burners, so far as I am aware, work on the generating principle with pressure on the fuel in the tank. These machines function fairly satisfactorily in operation, but of course require frequent cleaning due to carbon and dirt plugging the generating coil and any small openings such as the outlet for the vaporizing gas. That opening is necessarily very small in a generating type unit with the fuel under pressure. Furthermore, gasoline under pressure i always a fire hazard, especially when used indoors.

Electric heaters are too slow for effective work, unless of large capacity, and then their Weight and cost of operation are prohibitive.

Kerosene burners have been tried, but so far as I know, they have all been of the generating type, and a heavy fuel such as kerosene cannot be used successfully in that manner due to the rapid formation of carbon in the generating coil or tube.

An object of the present invention is to provide a kerosene burner which avoids .or overcomes all of the above dimculties.

More specific objects of the invention are to disclose a burner which (a) burns the oil in an open pct; (13) uses no pressure on the fuel in the tank; (9) is simple in construction; (d) is safe in use; has means for readily controlling the intensity of flame; (f) is odorless in operation; (9) is nearly noiseless in operation; and (h) requires cleaning only at long intervals.

Further and other objects and advantages will be apparent from the specification and claims, and from the accompanying drawing which illustrates what is now considered the preferred embodiment of the invention.

Figure 1 is a View of the complete device, paftly broken away to show details.

Fig. 2 is a detail view on line 2-2 of Fig. l.

The base of the device comprises a drip pan It, usually circular. Mounted on the base is a framework E2 on the top of which is a platform i4 supporting a tank or boiler l6 which, for convenience, is hinged to the platform at I8.

Supported by frame I2 is the tank 20 adapted to contain oil fuel 22. A vertical flue 24 passes upwardly through the tank and to the lower end of the flue is attached the discharge pipe 26 of blower 28 having vanes 36, inlet opening 32 and inlet shutter 34 pivoted at 36 and having handle 38. A safety guard 46 is provided over the blower inlet. The blower is driven by direct connected motor 42, and. on the .other end of the motor shaft is a rotary fuel pump id, to which fuel flows by gravity from the tank through strainer 66, valve 48 and pipe 58.

Mounted on the upper end of flue 2 with its upper end passing through platform I4, is the burner shell 52, closed at its upper and lower ends by rings 5d and 56, respectively. Suspended axially from ring 54 is the fire pct 58, having an imperforate lower portion lined with a ring of asbestos wicking, and having an upper wall portion perforated as at 62.

Fuel is supplied to pot 58 by pump 44, through pipe 64, standpipe 6S, pipe 68, and fitting 10. The pump furnishes an over-supply of fuel and the level of oil is maintained at line 72 in standpipe and at, or (as will appear) slightly below, line 12 in pot 58. The surplus oil in the standpipe enters overflow pipe 14 through holes 16 and returns to the tank at 18.

With the above structure in mind, operation of the device may be readily understood. To light the burner, boiler I6 is tilted to one side on its hinge E3, shutter 3415 nearly closed, some alcohol is squirted from an oil can into pot 58 and lighted with a match. After the alcohol has burned for about a minute to warm the pot, oil valve 48 is opened and the motor is started, shutter 3d is opened, and the burner is in operation with air rushing in through holes 62 combining with vapor from the surface of the oil and wick 6:3 to form combustible gas burning with an intense clear blue flame to heat the boiler. The amount of heat is regulated by shutter 34. When the shutter is closed there is very little air pressure in the pot and the oil in the pot is close to the level 12 in standpipe 66. When the shutter is open, air pressure in the pot is increased and the oil level goes down, thus exposing more of wick 6!] and increasing the evaporation and consequently the intensity of the flame.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific embodiment herein illustrated and described, but may be used in other ways without departure from its spirit as defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for forming combustible vapor, comprising in combination, a pot having an open top with an imperforate lower wall and a per forated upper wall, means for maintaining liquid fuel in the lower portion of said pot, a wick partially submerged in said liquid, means for forcing air through said perforations into said pot and maintaining air pressure above the liquid therein, and means under control of the operator for increasing said air pressure to lower the liquid in said pot and thus control the depth of submergence of said wick.

2. The invention set forth in claim 1 in which said wick is in the form of a lining within the lower portion of said pot.

3. The invention set forth in claim 5 in which a standpipe is provided between said pump and said pot for maintaining a constant pressure head on the fuel in said pot.

4-. In apparatus for forming a combustible vapor, an open vessel containing liquid fuel under a constant pressure head, and a wick in said liquid, in combination with means for maintaining air pressure over the surface of said liquid, and. means for increasing said air pressure to lower the liquid in said vessel and thus control the depth of su'bmergence of said wick.

5. Apparatus for forming combustible vapor, comprising in combination, a pot having an imperforate lower wall and a perforated upper wall, a jacket around said pot, a blower, an air duct connecting said blower with the jacket, a pump connected to said pot, a liquid fuel tank connected to said pump, and a motor for driving said blower and said pump, said blower, motor, and pump supported on the under side of said fuel tank, and said jack and burner pot supported on the top of said tank, with the air duct ex- 20 tending vertically through said tank.

GORDON H. TESSMER. 

